To Whom It May Concern
To Whom It May Concern
By Lubab Al-Quraishi, Refugee Congress Delegate for New Jersey
I am tired of being a refugee. It's time to be relieved.
Is it time for me to stop chasing a dream that will never come true in the greatest America, which has been unwilling to recognize my education and experience as an international physician?
I hope not. I am a surgical pathologist from Baghdad, Iraq. I have been practicing medicine for more than 10 years, and I desperately want to be able to practice as a physician in the U.S.
But now I work in a medical lab in northern New Jersey. I am a specialist but work under the title of “assistant,” and I’m paid just the minimum wage, even though I am a fully trained physician and can easily do the job of one.
Previously, I thought cheap labor was limited to certain countries. I never thought one day I would be that cheap labor.
It is time to consider people like me and make a change to the system.
Today I need answers to my questions:
Why are the credential evaluation service organizations unable to recognize my educational qualifications?
Is the system just failing or is it corrupt?
Why can a physician’s assistant or a nurse practitioner prescribe and treat American patients after finishing two-year specialized programs, but internationally trained physicians who have more than 10 years of practical experience cannot?
The American people deserve better service than this.
Why are other countries -- like Canada, Australia, and the U.K. -- able to recognize the training of specialist physicians, while the U.S. will not?
I feel insulted when U.S.-licensed physicians treat me as less because I don't have the same license. Working side by side with licensed doctors makes me ask, "What makes these doctors so unique?"
My answer is "nothing.” Many of them are smart, well-trained and dedicated professionals, but so am I, as are my fellow physicians who were trained internationally. Having good doctors to treat patients is what really matters -- not money or business.
Why did you give internationally educated physicians like myself temporary medical licenses during the pandemic for six months but not allow us to continue to practice long-term? Why did you give us hope, then kill it?
Before the pandemic, I had almost given up and gotten used to being treated unfairly. I was so saddened to see this treatment from the number one country leading in human rights!
But then I was issued a temporary license and called upon to help during the pandemic after years of perpetuating the misconception that international licenses are somehow less valuable. I had hope again, and today I worry it was for naught.
To whom it may concern: I am tired of being a refugee. I am tired of chasing a dream that feels like it will never ever come true. I am asking for justice. I am asking for relief.
Lubab Al-Quraishi is the Refugee Congress Delegate for New Jersey. She is a physician with a medical degree and extensive professional experience in Iraq. She and her family came to the U.S. as refugees in 2014.
Want to Learn More & Take Action?
Learn more about medical licensing requirements from the American Physician Associates, Inc. - PHA Organization
View this policy map from WES and IMPRINT to see where there is proposed state legislation to advance updated licensing requirements
Contact your state representatives to ask that they propose or support legislation to make it possible for qualified foreign-trained physicians to work in the U.S.
Learn more about the Opportunities for New Americans Act sponsored by Representative Katko of New York, a bipartisan piece of legislation that would assess the skills and expertise that refugees and immigrants bring to the U.S. as well as the barriers preventing these professionals from re-entering their fields.
The opinions of Refugee Congress Members expressed in articles authored by them on the Refugee Congress Blog are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire organization.
